1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus, and a lid supporting apparatus for the substrate processing apparatus, and more particularly to a substrate processing apparatus having processing chambers in which predetermined processing is carried out on substrates to be processed, and a lid supporting apparatus for the substrate processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among substrate processing apparatuses for manufacturing semiconductor devices, there are plasma processing apparatuses having processing chambers in which plasma processing such as etching processing using plasma is carried out on semiconductor wafers (hereinafter referred to merely as “wafers”) as substrates to be processed. Each processing chamber has in an upper portion thereof a chamber upper lid for closing up the processing chamber (see, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-311887, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-058523, the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,851, and the gazette (leaflet) of International Patent Publication No. WO/2000/060653). In such a substrate processing apparatus, by moving the chamber upper lid away from the processing chamber, cleaning of an entire surface of the chamber upper lid and an inner surface of the processing chamber, and maintenance such as as dismantling and remodeling the processing chamber can be carried out.
The chamber upper lid described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-311887 is constructed such as to be raised and lowered along four guide poles provided upright in a vertical direction from a processing chamber, this being in an exposing apparatus using an electron beam (an EB apparatus).
The chamber upper lid described in each of Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-058523 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,851 is of a so-called cantilever up/down driving type in which an end portion of the chamber upper lid is supported such as to be able to be raised and lowered by two guide members provided upright in a vertical direction, and is pivoted such as to be rotatable by a hinge portion.
A plate as the chamber upper lid described in International Patent Publication No. 00/060653 is of a sliding type in which an upper surface of the plate is supported by an arm that projects out in a horizontal direction from a side surface of an upper portion of a drive shaft as a single guide member that is provided upright in a vertical direction, and the plate can move up/down in a vertical direction and rotate (slide) in the horizontal direction.
However, with the art described in above Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-311887, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-058523, U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,851, and International Patent Publication No. 00/060653, it is necessary to provide at least one guide member for supporting the chamber upper lid; such a guide member interferes with pillars as a frame for providing a wall for surrounding the processing chamber, or with other adjacent processing chambers. Moreover, with the art described in above Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-311887 in particular, the four guide poles as the frame interfere with the chamber upper lid, and hence the chamber upper lid cannot be moved in a horizontal direction. As a result, when, for example, removing component parts from inside the processing chamber during remodeling, even if the chamber upper lid is raised to the highest position on the guide poles, interference occurs between the component parts and the chamber upper lid or the guide poles.
In addition, in recent years, as the diameter of wafers has been increased, the size of substrate processing apparatuses has been increased. As a result, firstly, the space around each processing chamber has become further reduced, and hence it has become difficult to secure space in which to provide guide members as described above, or space for rotating the chamber upper lid in a horizontal direction as in the art described in above International Patent Publication No. 00/060653. Secondly, as a substrate processing apparatus becomes larger in size, the chamber upper lid also becomes larger in size and thus heavier in weight, and hence the hinge portion or guide members as described in above Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-058523, U.S. Pat. No. 6,719,851, or International Patent Publication No. 00/060653 are small in number to support a heavy chamber upper lid in a well balanced way.
Among inner chamber-component parts disposed inside a processing chamber as described above, there are a deposit shield and a stage unit. The deposit shield is disposed along an inner surface of a side wall of the processing chamber and acts as an inner wall protecting member to which deposit becomes attached instead of the inner surface of the side wall of the processing chamber. The stage unit is constituted from a stage (susceptor) that acts as an ESC (electrostatic chuck) to which a wafer is electrostatically attracted (chucked) and associated component parts. However, the deposit shield has a large dimension in a height direction, and hence upon trying to remove the deposit shield from the processing chamber in a vertical direction, there is a problem of interference between a lower portion of the deposit shield and the side wall of the processing chamber. While the stage unit is very heavy, and hence there is a problem that removing the stage unit during remodeling is difficult.
In view of foregoing, there are demands to improve the work efficiency of maintenance such as cleaning and remodeling.